I am very pleased to present to you today a proposal which will have a radical effect on the cost and simplicity of doing business in the EU;

A proposal which will remove one of the major tax obstacles for companies in our Single Market, saving businesses up to €15 billion a year.

A proposal which will also facilitate greater tax compliance and, as such, offer Member States important new revenues without the need for higher taxes.

I am talking about the new Standard VAT Return, which the Commission has adopted today.

The Standard VAT Return hits at the heart of one of the biggest problems reported to us by businesses operating in the Single Market, namely the headache of 28 very different systems for declaring VAT.

Taxpayers operating cross-border have to battle with a complex medley of information requirements, procedures and deadlines, just to declare the VAT that they owe.

For example, some Member States ask for monthly declarations, others ask for quarterly ones.

The number of information boxes to be completed ranges from as few as 6, in Ireland, to 99 in Hungary – and even up to 586 boxes in Italy.

At best, all these divergences are costly and burdensome. At worst, they deter businesses – especially small ones – from even attempting to expand cross-border in the EU.

The standard VAT return we have proposed today will eliminate this problem, by replacing the 28 diverse national systems with a simple and uniform EU approach.

The information required in declaring VAT, and the timelines to do it, will be standardised across Europe.

This effectively means that there will be little difference between filing a VAT return abroad and filing one at home.

As such, this proposal reflects the true spirit of the Single Market.

In addition to considerably easing life for businesses, the standard VAT return also has another major advantage.

It goes without saying that simpler rules are easier to follow and easier to enforce.